The trial is due to open at the Special Criminal Court today of Dublin man Mr Brian Meehan, who is accused of the murder of journalist Ms Veronica Guerin in 1996.
He is the second man to go on trial for the murder of Ms Guerin, the Sunday Independent crime reporter who was shot dead as she sat in her car on the Naas Road outside Dublin on June 26th, 1996.
Last November Paul Ward from Dublin was jailed for life after he became the first man to be convicted of the journalist's murder.
Mr Meehan (34), of no fixed abode and formerly of Clifton Court and Stanaway Road in Dublin, faces 18 charges including murder, possession of firearms and ammunition and possession of cannabis.
Before the trial gets under way today his lawyers are expected to apply for the murder charge to be dealt with separately from the other charges. That application, which is being opposed by the State, is expected to take up the morning's court proceedings and the trial proper is not expected to begin until the afternoon.
Mr Meehan was arrested in Amsterdam on October 10th, 1997 by Dutch police after a surveillance operation involving Dutch police and gardai. He was extradited from Holland last September and was immediately charged with Ms Guerin's murder.
The Special Criminal Court trial is expected to last at least four weeks and there will be tight security for the appearance during the trial of Charles Bowden, the former drug gang member who turned State's witness and who is serving a sentence at Arbour Hill prison under the Witness Protection Programme.
Bowden is expected to be one of the main prosecution witnesses in the trial. Mr Meehan is represented by barristers Mr Anthony Sammon SC and a Northern Ireland QC, Mr John Mc Crudden, instructed by Michael E. Hanahoe, solicitors.